Driver ordered to pay $25,000 for hitting horse and rider

A man who drove into a horse, killing it and seriously injuring its rider, has been ordered to pay $25,000 in reparations and do 80 hours of community work.

Karen Rutherford Photo: RNZ / YouTube

In the Auckland District Court today, Peng Wang was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

The Chinese national had been convicted of careless driving causing injury, after hitting TV journalist Karen Rutherford while she was riding along a road in Dairy Flat north of Auckland last August.

Ms Rutherford said the sentence was disappointing, as Wang was leaving the country in two weeks anyway, so the disqualification was just lip service.

"This man has robbed us of eight months of our lives," she said.

"He'll be standing there on the side of the road with a shovel, probably having a chat for much of that, and we've been put through a hell of a lot of pain and suffering - I just don't think it reflects that."